Coca-Cola (KO) ended the recent trading session at $70.08, demonstrating a -0.16% swing from the preceding day's closing price. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.12% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 1.14%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.46%.

Shares of the world's largest beverage maker have appreciated by 12% over the course of the past month, outperforming the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 6.52% and the S&P 500's loss of 4.13%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Coca-Cola in its upcoming release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.72, unchanged from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $11.15 billion, indicating a 1.3% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2.96 per share and revenue of $47.98 billion, which would represent changes of +2.78% and +1.94%, respectively, from the prior year.

Furthermore, it would be beneficial for investors to monitor any recent shifts in analyst projections for Coca-Cola. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the company's business operations and its ability to generate profits.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.49% higher. As of now, Coca-Cola holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at valuation, Coca-Cola is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 23.74. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 19.11 for its industry.

It is also worth noting that KO currently has a PEG ratio of 3.79. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. KO's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.59 as of yesterday's close.

The Beverages - Soft drinks industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 168, placing it within the bottom 34% of over 250 industries.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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CocaCola Company (The) (KO) : Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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